From the press release desk this week…
Business moves
Chinese wealth manager Noah Holdings has opened its Australia office in Melbourne. The firm has appointed Grace Tsui as Australia CEO. Before joining Noah, Tsui was previously from Westpac, where she was head of multicultural customers acquisition, and before that, head of Asian business. Noah had already expressed its plans of opening offices overseas last year, and just recently opened its office in Canada.
HSBC Global Asset Management has launched a Singapore dollar income bond fund exclusively for Singapore retail investors. Entirely denominated in or hedged to Singapore dollars, the fund invests in sectors and countries across the Asia region. The fund will invest at least 50% of its assets in Singapore denominated bonds issued by governments, agencies, supranational bodies or companies that are Singapore and non-Singapore based issuers, while all other investments will be hedged to Singapore dollars…
Old Mutual Global Investors has outsourced its China Equity Fund to Ping An of China Asset Management (Hong Kong), effective 23 March. The fund will be managed Ping An’s senior portfolio managers, Vincent Che and Eddie Lau. There will be no change to the fund’s objective or policy, OMGI noted…
Natixis Asset Management, an affiliate of Natixis Investment Managers, will be renamed to Ostrum Asset Management, effective 3 April. Ostrum AM is Natixis IM’s largest affiliate, and the rebranding is part of the Natixis IM’s process of aligning its brands…
People moves
Bank of Singapore has appointed Anthony Adriano Simcic as a managing director within the bank’s international team. The move is expected to boost the bank’s coverage in Europe, particularly in the European Economic Area, which comprises of the European Union countries and Iceland, Liectenstein and Norway. Before joining the bank, he was managing director and head of private banking at HSBC Private Banking in Luxembourg…
JP Morgan Asset Management has appointed Shaw Yann Ho as its new of head of Asia fixed income. He replaced Stephen Chang, who has decided to leave the firm, according to a Hong Kong-based spokeswoman for the firm. Because of the move, there will be fund management responsibility changes, in which the firm said will not impact the management of its portfolios or investment process. Ho has worked with Chang for the last seven years…
Fund management responsibility changes at JPMAM:
| Fund | Previous fund managers | New managers / new co-manager |
| JPMorgan Asia Total Return Fund (HK unit trust and Sicav) | Stephen Chang | Shaw Yann Ho and Jason Pang |
| JPMorgan China Bond Fund (Sicav) | Jason Pang and Stephen Chang | Jason Pang and Shaw Yann Ho |
| JPMorgan Funds Global Bon dFund (HK unit trust) | Arjun Vij and Stephen Chang | Arjun Vij and Shaw Yann Ho |
| JPMorgan SAR Asian Bond Fund (HK unit trust) | Jason Pang and Ai Ling Ngiam | No change |
| JPMorgan SAR HK$ Bond Fund (HK unit trust) | Shaw Yann Ho and Stephen Chang | Shaw Yann Ho and Selina Yu |
| JPMorgan Asia Pacific Income Fund (Sicav) | Jeffrey Roskell, Julie Ho, Shaw Yann Ho and Stephen Chang | Jeffrey Roskell, Julie Ho, Shaw Yann Ho and Selina Yu |
| JPMorgan China Income Fund (HK unit trust) | Lilian Yeung, Emerson Yip and Stephen Chang | Lilian Yeung, Emerson Yip and Shaw Yann Ho |
| JPM Asia High Yield Bond Fund Unhedged and Hedged (Japan fund) | Shaw Yann Ho and Stephen Chang | Shaw Yann Ho and Selina Yu |
Enhanced Investment Products (EIP) has appointed Daniel Turner as head of the investment team for Asia. He is responsible for the investment decisions across all EIP platforms, including the management of hedge funds, the Enhanced Funds series and the firm’s ETF platforms, Xie Shares. Before joining EIP, he was previously the head of equity derivatives trading at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in Hong Kong…
Deutsche Asset Management has appointed Alex François as director of sales for asset management in the global client group (GCG) for Australia and New Zealand. Based in Sydney, he will focus on the firm’s public markets capabilities, including equities and multi-asset and reports to Lidia Tomova, head of GCG for Australia and New Zealand. Before joining the firm, François was previously the head of institutional distribution for Australia and New Zealand at William Blair Investment Management…
State Street has appointed Lisa Lou as country head of global services for China and general manager of its Beijing branch. Based in Beijing, she is responsible for managing the firm’s global services business, reporting to Richard Fogarty, head of global services for North Asia. Before joining State Street, Lou was previously from JP Morgan Chase Bank in China, where she was head of financial institutions and public sector clients for China and general manager of its Beijing branch…
Evestment has appointed Hiroyuki Senda as vice president of sales for Japan. His appointment marks an expansion of the firm’s Japan operations, that will also include the addition of two more employees in sales roles. Before joining Evestment, Senda was a vice president at Amundi Asset Management in Tokyo, where he held a variety of sales, product and business development leadership positions with the firm…
ESG
Franklin Templeton Investments has repositioned its Templeton Global (Euro) Fund to Templeton Global Climate Change Fund. The repositioned fund seeks to maximise long-term returns by investing in attractively valued companies preparing for the transition to a lower carbon economy. ESG analysis will be integrated into the stock selection process of the newly positioned fund, which is also available in Asia…
Robeco has decided to exclude investments in tobacco from its mutual funds. Robeco currently excludes tobacco from its sustainable fund range, and this exclusion will now be extended to all of the firm’s funds, including sub-advised funds. However, this does not apply to client-specific funds and mandates…
Eastspring Investments has signed the UN-supported Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI). The firm is now in the process of implementing a formal and consistent ESG focus across all asset classes, research and investment decision-making, according to Virginie Maisonneuve, the firm’s chief investment officer…
Awards
Morningstar has announced winners of the 2018 Hong Kong Fund Awards. Among the fund houses that received awards, T Rowe Price was named “best equity fund house”, while Capital Group was named “best fixed income fund house”…
